Okay, the genesis for this article was after listening to a couple of taxi drivers who drove me this week when they mentioned how frustrating they find it when everyday drivers park in taxi ranks with the mentality of “oh it’s okay, I’ll only be here for five minutes”. One of the driver’s also mentioned that back in the day he has “parked-in” some everyday drivers to teach them the lesson that they were not supposed to park in a taxi rank.

Now, I have to admit that until I had these discussions with these drivers I really did not notice that this was much of a problem. However, on Friday the 12th of June in the evening at Westfield Shopping centre while waiting for a wheelchair taxi that I had booked at the Lathlain street, over a period of twenty minutes I noticed four cars (that were not taxis) park in the taxi rank. How could I tell this, you ask? Well there was no sign on the roof of the four cars that said taxi and it was pretty clear that none of the drivers had paid a couple hundred thousand dollars for their licenses. Now, your right I probably should have taken a few photos of these drivers to accompany this article. But I let them off the hook, this time. Will I take pictures of cars I see parked in taxi ranks the next time I see them? I don’t know, maybe.

To those of you who are still of the mentality “oh it’s okay, I’ll only be here for five minutes” it’s not okay, for taxi drivers time is money and with all that they have to deal with they shouldn’t have to put up with some prick parking in a taxi rank stopping them getting to their next fare. If that’s not enough of a reason not to park in a taxi rank according to section 182 Road Traffic Act of 1961 “A driver must not stop in a taxi zone, unless the driver is driving a taxi.” And in Canberra according to Road Transport (Offences) Regulation 2005 Schedule 1 Part 1.2 Items 239 if you get caught parking in a taxi rank you are going to earn yourself a $97 fine.

For those of you who like to go to the Canberra Casino, some of you might find it hard to find a taxi when you are done with your gambling. Well the other driver that I talked to mentioned drivers find it hard to park the taxi rank because of all the everyday driver’s parked in the taxi rank.